Introduction
Catalytic converters are an integral part of converting much of the pollution that comes out of a car’s exhaust. Almost every car since the year 1970 has come with a catalytic converter in order to reduce harmful emissions. I chose to explain the function and chemistry behind the catalytic converter because I have an interest in cars and I wanted to know more about them.
Background
In order to understand how catalytic converters work, one must understand that air and fuel burn in a car’s engine best at a specific ratio. The ratio for gasoline burning vehicles is approximately 14.7 pounds of air to one pound of gasoline. When there is more than 14.7 pounds of air for each pound of gas, the mixture is running lean. When the opposite occurs, meaning less that 14.7 pounds of air for each pound of gas, the mixture is rich.
The exhaust from the combustion in a cars engine is comprised of six main ingredients. Nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide, and water vapor are three of the main emissions. These gases do not cause damage to the atmosphere like the other gases do. Carbon Monoxide, other hydrocarbons, and Nitrogen Oxides result in a majority of the pollution caused by cars. Carbon Monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that can kill you if too much is inhaled. Hydrocarbons come out of an engine’s exhaust from unburned fuel. These hydrocarbons can be broken down by the sun, creating ground level ozone, also known as smog. Nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain. Catalytic converters are designed to reduce these last three emissions.
How it Works
Most new cars are equipped with what is called a three-way catalytic converter. They are called this because they try to cut down on the Carbon Monoxide, hydrocarbons, and Nitrogen Oxides. There are two main parts to the catalytic converter. They both function in the same way but remove different pollutants. The structure inside the catalytic converter is a honeycomb to allow for a maximum surface area for the reactions to occur while requiring minimal amounts of the catalysts required for the reactions to take place because these catalysts are expensive.
Reduction Catalyst
The reduction catalyst is the first step that the exhaust goes through in the catalytic converter. The catalysts used in this part are platinum and rhodium to break now NO and NO2 molecules in to N2 and O2 gases which are non-polluting.
Driving emits particle pollution, which increases the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and asthma. Particle pollution is processed in two ways, either mechanical or chemical.
Driven in large part by global initiatives and the potential for stringent regulations, the past decade or two has seen a marked increase in the importance of improvements with respect to environmental standards, including emissions and increases in fuel economy. In 2002, Cummins Emissions Solutions was launched after the need was identified for an emission solution that would help engines meet future regulations. In 2006, Cummins pioneered a hybrid diesel-electric bus which reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gasses by more than 30 percent and me...
Ideally an engine takes in Air (Oxygen and Nitrogen) and fuel (hydrocarbons) and produces CO2, H2O, and the N2 just passes through. However under normal driving conditions an engine will encounter lean conditions when cruising on the highway (better mileage) and rich conditions when accelerating (better power). The lean condition results in oxide and harmful nitrogen production. Rich conditions result in carbon monoxide production. For this reason catalytic converters are used on an engine’s exhaust.
The tradeoffs of using gasoline for cars are large emission of carbon dioxide and required large amount of chemical t...
Gasoline fueled cars produce a number of pollutants. The most damaging pollutants that come from gasoline fueled cars are particulate matter. Particulate matter is a sequence of organic materials and inorganic substances. It includes ingredients such as lint and minerals. Nitrogen dioxide, produced when fuel is burned at high temperatures, can cause damage to the lungs and cause chest pains. One might ask, “Why are Americans still driving gasoline cars?” knowing the damage that they are subject to cause. I personally maintain that the government should push people to p...
There are many kinds of air pollution. The ones I want to talk about are the ozone, acid rain, carbon monoxide and toxic air contaminants. Ozone is formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide react in sunlight. Therefore, ozone is at its peak during hot summer days. Exposure to high levels of ozone can have serious consequences on your health. It can cause respiratory disease, loss of pulmonary elasticity, and premature aging of our lungs. Next, is acid rain, which occurs in the atmosphere in the form of sulfur and nitrogen oxide. These pollutants can have serious damaging affects on aquatic, forest and wildlife ecosystems, as well as deterioration of buildings. Carbon monoxide is another form of pollution. It reduces the blood?s ability to carry oxygen. If a human is exposed to higher levels, it can cause chest pains, angina attacks or even death.
Almost all car makers around the world are responding to this issue and have begin their research to reduce the risk of climate change. The steps that the car manufacturers have to take to deal with this situation are to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions and waste produced by both of their manufacturing factories and vehicle by implementing new measures in their factories and by looking at using renewable fuels that produce cleaner emission.
The catalytic process occurs at lower temperature anf offers higher selectivity but requires frequent regeneration of the catalyst. Then, the products are cooled and introduced into a pair of separators which separate the unreacted hydrogen. The unreacted hydrogen is compressed and recycle back to the feed and reactor. The products that leaving the separators are heated before introduced into a distillation column which the toluene is separated from the stream and recycle back to the...
Most people today fill up their car with different qualities of petrol, because that's what the average car takes. They don't usually consider an alternative for the petrol that they load into their cars. Although petrol is widely used, it is not the only source for a car to get its power from; diesel and electricity are alternatives to the general petrol used by most cars. Although different from each other, diesel and electricity are alternatives to the average gasoline received at a gas station. Diesel is a more concentrated type of fuel that is usually used by big automobiles because they require a lot of power in a little amount of time. Electricity is a method that uses the power of batteries to produce a low horsepower but, nevertheless fast automobile. Electric cars are generally created to be soundless and environment friendly. The purpose of this paper is to classify and educate the reader of the different types of fuel available for an automobile to use: petrol, diesel, and electricity. The general petrol, used by most people, is usually the only type of fuel accepted on the average car in the United States today.
Initial preview: We will learn about the creation of air pollution, the effects of air pollution, and how the companies reduce more air pollution from a catalytic converter.
Many hazardous pollutants escape from the internal combustion of the engine. Conventional gas powered vehicles use irreplaceable fossil fuels to run. When burned, these fossil fuels create numerous toxins like carbon dioxide (Larminie 246). Carbon dioxide is considered the main greenhouse gas that creates the foundation for global warming (hybridcars.com, pollutants). This harmful pollutant may not have a serious effect on people at first, but it does have consequential effects on the environment that in turn put people in danger (Nutramed.com). The major consequence caused by global warming is the rise in average temperature. This results in a domino...
Air pollution is caused by many things such as car fumes, burning of fossil fuels,
Car pollutants cause immediate and long-term effects on the environment. Car exhausts emit a wide range of gases and solid matter, causing global warming, acid rain, and harming the environment and human health. Engine noise and fuel spills also cause pollution. Cars, trucks and other forms of transportation are the single largest contributor to air pollution in the United States, but car owners can reduce their vehicle's effects on the environment. Car pollution is one of the major causes of global warming. Cars and trucks emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which contribute one-fifth of the United States' total global warming pollution. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, which causes worldwide temperatures to rise.
Automobiles release the unburnt carbon monoxide due to which ultraviolet rays got a way to enter into an atmosphere.
By replacing materials with those of a lower density has also made an important impact on fuel economy. Studies show that making 10% reduction in mass yields 5% improvement in fuel economy. Indeed, the US automakers in the last 25 years have responded to the government regulations Corporate Average Fuel Economy by changing materials to lighter ones like aluminum and plastics. Newer developments using other components like Magnesium, polymer composites, and ceramics also are helping to make further improvements to fuel